IRMO – Lexington-Richland School District Five celebrated its fourth annual First Jobs Signing Day on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, recognizing 29 students hired to work within the district. The First Jobs Initiative was created to address the nationwide labor shortage while providing students with meaningful, paid work experience. This year’sContinue Reading

By Thomas Grant Jr. At just 11 years old, Pelion native Kenneth “Preston” Blevins is already accelerating through the early stages of what looks to be a promising kart racing career. The young driver has captured three junior titles along with the 2025 U.S. and E-World championship in North Carolina.Continue Reading

South Carolina Coaches Association of Women’s Sports has released its 2026 preseason high school softball rankings, highlighting the top teams across each classification heading into the new season. Class 5A Division I J.F. Byrnes Summerville Sumter Lexington Clover Dorman Ashley Ridge West Ashley Boiling Springs Class 5A Division II CatawbaContinue Reading

South Carolina Healthy Business Coalition launches statewide – Press events slated for end of March The South Carolina Healthy Business Coalition officially launches today, marking the evolution of the South Carolina Healthy Business Challenge into a year-round coalition focused on advancing workforce health, wellbeing, and organizational resilience across South CarolinaContinue Reading

By Robin All If you stepped away from the game for any reason, consider this your sign to dust off the clubs, clean them up and head back to the driving range or your favorite course. We don’t stop playing golf because we get old — we get old becauseContinue Reading

After initially announcing a hiatus, organizers have confirmed that the Lexington County Peach Festival will return in 2026. The popular Fourth of July celebration, held annually in Gilbert, was previously canceled due to a shortage of personnel and volunteers needed to manage the large-scale event. However, an outpouring of publicContinue Reading

Dennis Carroll Ballentine, age 79, of Taylors, SC, went to be with the Lord on February 26, 2026. Born in Columbia, SC, he was the son of the late Ena Trussell Ballentine and the late Bernard Carroll Ballentine of Columbia, SC. Dennis graduated from A. C. Flora High School inContinue Reading

Richland County Sheriff’s Department points to mobile-phone forensics as “vital asset” in recent homicide-solving successes By W. Thomas Smith Jr. Recent national reports of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s (RCSD) successes in solving 100-percent of all homicide cases (80 murder cases in fact since 2023) beg the question: How? BroadContinue Reading

From little acorns mighty oaks grow. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Though my hair was chestnut brown, I was green, a young writer hoping to create something memorable. I needed inspiration and I found it in a novel, Shining Tides. Winfield Brooks wrote it. The inside flap said theContinue Reading